Japan forces through road plan as PM's woes persist

TOKYO, May 13 (Reuters) - Japan's ruling bloc flexed its muscle in parliament's lower house on Tuesday to override the upper chamber and enact a 10-year plan for spending on roads, despite signs the step would further erode the prime minister's sagging popularity.

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's support rates have already slid below 20 percent in some polls, prompting talk that his ruling party will seek to replace him ahead of a general election that must be held by September 2009 but could come sooner.

A mere 13 percent of voters approved the use of the ruling camp's two-thirds lower house majority to override an upper house veto of the bill, which allocates funds from a controversial gasoline tax for road construction, according to a survey by NHK public television published the previous day.

Support for the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan, keen to force an early lower house election, rose nearly 10 points to 27.1 percent in the poll, while backing for Fukuda's Liberal Democratic Party fell almost five points to 25.6 percent.

The Democrats say the law is an example of LDP pork-barrel policies and contradicts Fukuda's own proposal to shift revenues from a controversial 25 yen (24 cents) per litre gasoline tax, now earmarked for roads, to general spending from 2009/10.

To address such criticism, the cabinet earlier on Tuesday adopted a resolution pledging to carry out Fukuda's proposal, but the opposition was unimpressed.

"What sort of act is it to try to enact forcefully ... a law that continues the wasteful spending of the past, despite its rejection by the upper house?" Democratic Party executive Naoto Kan asked the lower house of parliament. "For the lower house to vote again on this bill ... without even revising it is just nonsense."

It was the third time Fukuda's government used the ruling bloc's two-thirds majority, won in 2005 under charismatic leader Junichiro Koizumi, to override a veto by the upper house, where the DPJ and smaller allies won a majority last July.

The Democrats had threatened to adopt a non-binding but embarrassing censure motion against Fukuda over the road-related spending, but are now expected to hold back.